Publishedat 8th of December 2018 01:52:07 PMChapter 21
After safely leaving the merpeople island, Chiharu and Maki rode the train through the second great open s.p.a.ce in the tunnels . This time, they did their best to ignore any looks coming from out the window, even when they felt it staring at them . And still, the Gazer came .
“I didn’t look at it this time . I promise!”
Excuses were made, but when their eyes had met for a second, the Gazer looked very happy .
Such small incidents occurred along the way, but they safely reached Noir in the dwarf lands . By this time, they were feeling somewhat affectionate towards the Gazer and prayed that the archer wouldn’t kill it .
It was now in the evening .
As they stepped out of the train, they could see the town and its many lines of short buildings stretch out both inland and towards the sea . There wasn’t much open land near the sh.o.r.e, as small mountains were close by . It was slightly past these mountains that their destination lay .
Maki quickly looked at her surroundings . Where was that place the old ticket seller had told her about? Ah, there it was . And another thing . There . The carriage station .
“Kaider, Nyran, thank you for helping us . Well, goodbye . ”
Maki said to them hurriedly, Chiharu too bowed her head and the two of them tried to rush off to the carriage station .
“Wait, wait . Where’re you going?”
“Where? To the town of Garonce . ”
“It will take an extra hour to get there . And there are not many inns . ”
“But, we already decided . It’s hard to adjust once you change your schedule . ”
“But still…”
“There’s a carriage leaving for Garonce in 5 minutes . ”
Some pa.s.serby had overheard them and muttered this before walking away .
“Good . You buy the tickets, Norfe . ”
“Alright . ”
“Ah, hey!”
The two split up . The younger sister went to buy some deep fried fish . Then she immediately went to the bakery next to it before running back to her brother .
“Oh, I guess I have no choice then . ”
“Are you going too?”
“We can’t just leave those two alone . ”
“But there are no Gazers or merpeople on land . ”
“I just feel like there’ll be something . ”
“…Well, you’re probably right . ”
Kaider looked up at the sky .
“I don’t know if it’s just me, but it seems like there are a lot of bird people up there . Could it…”
“There’s no time . ”
“Ah, yeah . ”
They were just in time . There were carriages with three rows of four-seats . They were on the large side . The floating stones meant that weight was not a problem, but the mountain roads in the dwarf lands were not wide . And so it was necessary to use carriages like these for transportation . The pa.s.sengers were two children, Kaider and Nyran, and the man who had muttered to them a moment ago . The rest of the carriage was full of other baggage .
“Huh? Kaider, Nyran . ”
The two children with bags looked at them with puzzled expressions .
“Well, we decided that it won’t be too bad to go to the next town . ”
“Oh . So we’ll sit together again . ”
The older brother seemed quite happy about this, and so the two were glad of their decision . The sister sat next to them and cut open some bread with a knife in order to stuff them with the fried fish . She made two of these and cut one in half and the other into three pieces .
“Here . I was worried because the fish was so big, but it seemed to work out . ”
“You’re giving it to me?”
“Because there’s still quite some time until dinner . ”
The sister also gave the other pa.s.senger some bread . While it was slightly cold, the fresh fish was seasoned with vinegar and salt, which went very nicely with the bread . After that, the siblings shared a bottle of fruit juice that they had bought at the station .
The carriage had windows on both sides . As it was going up a mountain, you could occasionally get a good view of the town of Noir . When the sun started to set, lights began to slowly appear throughout the city .
“Hey, Norfe, Chouze . ”
“Yes?”
Norfe answered without taking his eyes away from the scenery .
“What are you two going to do in Garonce?”
“It’s only one stop for us . We are headed for Gromble . ”
“Gromble . But that’s the deepest dungeon town . And it is close to the Shadow World . It is no place you ones so young . ”
“But, we think our mother’s cousin is there . ”
“Cousin?”
“An adventurer . ”
“But adventurers will move from dungeon to dungeon like the wind . Though Gromble is vast, and many end up staying there…”
“We have to go . We have to see it . ”
Norfe said as he looked on ahead . They decided that it was better to not ask any more questions .
“But where are you going, Kaider and Nyran?”
“We are…”
“Gromble . ”
“Oh, uh, yeah . We are adventurers, after all . We were just thinking of going to Gromble . ”
“Oh, I see . Have you been there before?”
“Of course, we have . It’s practically our home base . We just got a little bored, you know, and were spending some time in the elven dungeons . ”
A little bored? Only a child would fall for that excuse . Nyran thought .
“Oh, and then from the elven territories, you went to Arthur’s kingdom . Did you ride an airship?”
“We did indeed . Airships only fly once a week, you know? It was actually my first time riding one . ”
Hmm . They were falling for it . Airships were expensive . Too expensive for any adventurer to ride . Indeed, Kaider and Nyran had things they wanted to keep hidden as well . They couldn’t talk too much, as their story wouldn’t survive any scrutiny .
“Ah, we have now reached the highest point of the road . The rest of the journey to Garonce will be downhill . ”
“Oh . ”
The children looked forlornly at the sea . The carriage slowly descended the mountain road .
“Agh . ”
Suddenly, the children looked downward and held their faces .
“What is it?”
Kaider asked with concern in his voice .
“My right eye…” “My right eye…”
They said .
“Right eye?” “Right eye?”
What did they mean?
“Ugh, aahh, just, hehe . It’s nothing . We’re just playing . ”
“You should choose one, instead of laughing and acting in pain at the same time . ”
The children said ‘Does it ache? It does, doesn’t it?’ to each other as they giggled while looking down, there hands on their foreheads . Then they seemed to grasp something and put it in their bags .
“The miasma is thicker now . ”
“You can tell?”
“Kind of…”
Indeed, Noir was facing the sea, so the miasma could escape . But the dwarf villages in the mountains were different . Of course, as the dwarves often worked in the mines, they had a higher resistance to miasma . But humans were more likely to be affected by it . There were more adventurers now who were becoming crazed . And that is why he did not want them to go to Gromble .
They were all deep within their own thoughts, as the carriage descended into Garonce .
After safely leaving the merpeople island, Chiharu and Maki rode the train through the second great open s.p.a.ce in the tunnels . This time, they did their best to ignore any looks coming from out the window, even when they felt it staring at them . And still, the Gazer came
.
“I didn’t look at it this time . I promise!”.
.
Excuses were made, but when their eyes had met for a second, the Gazer looked very happy
Such small incidents occurred along the way, but they safely reached Noir in the dwarf lands . By this time, they were feeling somewhat affectionate towards the Gazer and prayed that the archer wouldn’t kill it
It was now in the evening
.
As they stepped out of the train, they could see the town and its many lines of short buildings stretch out both inland and towards the sea . There wasn’t much open land near the sh.o.r.e, as small mountains were close by . It was slightly past these mountains that their destination lay
.
Maki quickly looked at her surroundings . Where was that place the old ticket seller had told her about? Ah, there it was . And another thing . There . The carriage station
.
“Kaider, Nyran, thank you for helping us . Well, goodbye . ”.
.
Maki said to them hurriedly, Chiharu too bowed her head and the two of them tried to rush off to the carriage station
.
“Wait, wait . Where’re you going?”.
“Where? To the town of Garonce . ”.
“It will take an extra hour to get there . And there are not many inns . ”.
“But, we already decided . It’s hard to adjust once you change your schedule . ”.
“But still…”.
“There’s a carriage leaving for Garonce in 5 minutes . ”.
.
Some pa.s.serby had overheard them and muttered this before walking away
.
“Good . You buy the tickets, Norfe . ”.
“Alright . ”.
“Ah, hey!”.
.
The two split up . The younger sister went to buy some deep fried fish . Then she immediately went to the bakery next to it before running back to her brother
.
“Oh, I guess I have no choice then . ”.
“Are you going too?”.
“We can’t just leave those two alone . ”.
“But there are no Gazers or merpeople on land . ”.
“I just feel like there’ll be something . ”.
“…Well, you’re probably right . ”.
.
Kaider looked up at the sky
.
“I don’t know if it’s just me, but it seems like there are a lot of bird people up there . Could it…”.
“There’s no time . ”.
“Ah, yeah . ”.
.
They were just in time . There were carriages with three rows of four-seats . They were on the large side . The floating stones meant that weight was not a problem, but the mountain roads in the dwarf lands were not wide . And so it was necessary to use carriages like these for transportation . The pa.s.sengers were two children, Kaider and Nyran, and the man who had muttered to them a moment ago . The rest of the carriage was full of other baggage
.
“Huh? Kaider, Nyran . ”.
.
The two children with bags looked at them with puzzled expressions
.
“Well, we decided that it won’t be too bad to go to the next town . ”.
“Oh . So we’ll sit together again . ”.
.
The older brother seemed quite happy about this, and so the two were glad of their decision . The sister sat next to them and cut open some bread with a knife in order to stuff them with the fried fish . She made two of these and cut one in half and the other into three pieces
.
“Here . I was worried because the fish was so big, but it seemed to work out . ”.
“You’re giving it to me?”.
“Because there’s still quite some time until dinner . ”.
.
The sister also gave the other pa.s.senger some bread . While it was slightly cold, the fresh fish was seasoned with vinegar and salt, which went very nicely with the bread . After that, the siblings shared a bottle of fruit juice that they had bought at the station
.
The carriage had windows on both sides . As it was going up a mountain, you could occasionally get a good view of the town of Noir . When the sun started to set, lights began to slowly appear throughout the city
.
“Hey, Norfe, Chouze . ”.
“Yes?”.
.
Norfe answered without taking his eyes away from the scenery
.
“What are you two going to do in Garonce?”.
“It’s only one stop for us . We are headed for Gromble . ”.
“Gromble . But that’s the deepest dungeon town . And it is close to the Shadow World . It is no place you ones so young . ”.
“But, we think our mother’s cousin is there . ”.
“Cousin?”.
“An adventurer . ”.
“But adventurers will move from dungeon to dungeon like the wind . Though Gromble is vast, and many end up staying there…”.
“We have to go . We have to see it . ”.
.
Norfe said as he looked on ahead . They decided that it was better to not ask any more questions
.
“But where are you going, Kaider and Nyran?”.
“We are…”.
“Gromble . ”.
“Oh, uh, yeah . We are adventurers, after all . We were just thinking of going to Gromble . ”.
“Oh, I see . Have you been there before?”.
“Of course, we have . It’s practically our home base . We just got a little bored, you know, and were spending some time in the elven dungeons . ”.
.
A little bored? Only a child would fall for that excuse . Nyran thought
.
“Oh, and then from the elven territories, you went to Arthur’s kingdom . Did you ride an airship?”.
“We did indeed . Airships only fly once a week, you know? It was actually my first time riding one . ”.
.
Hmm . They were falling for it . Airships were expensive . Too expensive for any adventurer to ride . Indeed, Kaider and Nyran had things they wanted to keep hidden as well . They couldn’t talk too much, as their story wouldn’t survive any scrutiny
.
“Ah, we have now reached the highest point of the road . The rest of the journey to Garonce will be downhill . ”.
“Oh . ”.
.
The children looked forlornly at the sea . The carriage slowly descended the mountain road
.
“Agh . ”.
.
Suddenly, the children looked downward and held their faces
.
“What is it?”.
.
Kaider asked with concern in his voice
.
“My right eye…” “My right eye…”.
.
They said
.
“Right eye?” “Right eye?”.
.
What did they mean?.
.
“Ugh, aahh, just, hehe . It’s nothing . We’re just playing . ”.
“You should choose one, instead of laughing and acting in pain at the same time . ”.
.
The children said ‘Does it ache? It does, doesn’t it?’ to each other as they giggled while looking down, there hands on their foreheads . Then they seemed to grasp something and put it in their bags
.
“The miasma is thicker now . ”.
“You can tell?”.
“Kind of…”.
.
Indeed, Noir was facing the sea, so the miasma could escape . But the dwarf villages in the mountains were different . Of course, as the dwarves often worked in the mines, they had a higher resistance to miasma . But humans were more likely to be affected by it . There were more adventurers now who were becoming crazed . And that is why he did not want them to go to Gromble
.
They were all deep within their own thoughts, as the carriage descended into Garonce
.